Football safety helmet

ABSTRACT

A multilayer safety helmet assembly is provided comprising a helmet assembly including a helmet outer shell, a helmet inner shell, and an array of vibration dampeners disposed intermediate the outer shell and the inner shell. A resilient face guard/shock absorber assembly is further provided including a face guard and shock absorber assembly extending between the face guard and the helmet assembly. A head motion restraint assembly includes a first portion engaged to the helmet assembly and a second portion engageable to a shoulder pad(s) worn by a user.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims priority to U.S. Provisional Patent ApplicationNo. 61/886,420, filed Oct. 3, 2013, aspect of which are incorporatedhereto.

STATEMENT RE: FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH/DEVELOPMENT

Not Applicable

BACKGROUND

Football is widely considered to be the most popular sport in America.By its nature, the sport is violent, involving jarring tackles andcollisions which are a hallmark of the game.

Over the years, football safety equipment has evolved from the use ofleather helmets and other apparel items that offer little protection, tobulky shoulder pads, bulky, padded helmets and various other accessoriesintended to protect players. However, due to the nature of the game,injuries continue to occur. Some injuries are immediately apparent andother injuries not immediately discernible, but may manifest themselvesat the later times. Some injuries, e.g. concussions, may be cumulativeto the point that the manifestation of the injury may not occur untilwell after the damage is done. Indeed, in many cases injuries can becomemore apparent long after a player has stopped playing a game and his/herbody begins to show signs of wear and aging.

At earlier times, the potential for such injury was less well-known sothat the need for better safety equipment was not realized. However,today the potential for various types of injuries from football is wellestablished and known within the football community. Nonetheless, aplayer's love for the game, and the lure potential fame and fortunecontinue to draw many players and fans to the game.

In order to mitigate the inherent potential for injuries arising fromplaying football, various steps have been taken. Training regimes havebeen modified to mitigate injury and coaches have become more sensitizedto the need to adopt safer practice procedures, and to spot potentialinjuries at earlier stage. Physical examinations of players have becomemore through and sensor systems have been proposed for incorporationinto football equipment in order to better monitor the occurrence ofconcussion and other bone jarring impacts.

Football safety equipment has also evolved to utilize differentmaterials, e.g. internal padding, to mitigate the transmission of shockforces from the helmet outer shell to the head of the user. However, thenature of the impact forces may widely vary and collisions may involvemay multiply types of impacts. As such, no one feature is likely toprovide protection in relation to the actual assortment and combinationof impacts that football players are commonly exposed to.

Accordingly, there is a need for football equipment that providesprotection against a variety of different impact forces, which can causebody portions to react and move into different directions and therebycause injury to the player. Preferably such improved football equipmentcan provide protection in relation frontal impacts, such as hand slapsto the front of a helmet, as well as protection in relation to sideimpact forces that may cause a body portion to translate laterally in amanner that causes damage to the player.

The present invention is designed to provide an improved, multilayersafety helmet for use in football and other sports. The assembly isintended to provide protection in response to impacts on the helmet fromdifferent directions and different force levels. The helmet assembly isfurther designed to permit customization of the rigidity and reliance ofthe helmet safety portions, as well as facilitate use of the helmet inrelation to players of different sizes and body shapes. Some exemplaryembodiments of such a helmet are described below and illustrated in theaccompanying drawings.

BRIEF SUMMARY

A multilayer safety helmet assembly is provided comprising a helmetassembly including a helmet outer shell, a helmet inner shell, and anarray of vibration dampeners disposed intermediate the outer shell andthe inner shell. A resilient face guard/shock absorber assembly isfurther provided including a face guard and shock absorber assemblyextending between the face guard and the helmet assembly. A head motionrestraint assembly includes a first portion engaged to the helmetassembly and a second portion engageable to a shoulder pad(s) worn by auser.

In one embodiment the outer shell is formed of Kevlar™/compositematerial and may include resilient surface material formed on an outersurface of the outer shell.

The vibration dampeners may be formed of the resilient, deformablematerial, to dissipate the transmission of shock forces from the helmetassembly outer shell to the helmet assembly inner shell. The vibrationdampeners are preferably formed of carefully selected material(s) toregulate the stiffness of the helmet and/or the transmission of shockforces from the helmet assembly outer shell to the helmet assembly innershell.

The shock absorber is preferably adjustable to provide for selectivedampening of forces upon the face guard, to absorb and/or dissipatetransmission of such shock forces from the face guard to the helmetassembly.

In one embodiment the face guard shock absorber is adjustable to theprovide the low resistance to minor impact forces upon the face guard,thereby absorbing such minor impact forces without transmission to thehelmet assembly. However, the shock absorber exhibits high resistance tohigher impact forces upon the face guard, to protect the face of theuser while still dissipating a substantial portion of the impact force.As such, the shock absorber may be constructed to mimic a tunableproportional integral differential (PID) circuit with a more mutedresponse to lower impact forces and a more substantial response tohigher impact forces.

The shock absorber may be implemented as a translatable hydraulic pistonand/or one or more layers of deformable material(s), where in each layerhas a different compression characteristics. In another embodiment theshock absorber may be implemented as a single layer or multilayer bodyof resilient material, wherein each layer of resilient material hasdifferent compressive characteristics to selectively respond to lowimpact and high impact forces. For example, the more highly compressiblemay be connected directly to the face guard with the denser, lesscompressible material is connected to the helmet assembly.

In one embodiment the shocker absorber is in engaged to the helmetassembly inner shell. However, the shock absorber mayalternately/additionally be connected to or though the helmet assemblyouter shell.

A head motion restraint assembly is provided including a first portionengaged to the helmet assembly and a second portion engageable to theshoulder pad(s) worn by a user. The head motion restraint assembly mayinclude different structural members to resist helmet motion indifferent ways. In one case, the head motion restraint assembly mayinclude tension springs connecting the helmet assembly to the shoulderpad(s). In another case, tubular torsion members, or other twistedstructured may be provided to connect the helmet assembly and theshoulder pads in such manner as to dampening the motion of the helmetrelative to the shoulder pads, e.g. side to side motion, rotationalmotion, and/or frontward/rearward motion. In yet another embodiment,tubular torsion members may be used in combination with tension springsto provide multiple mechanical means for regulating the effect of impactforces on the helmet assembly.

Mechanical characteristics of the tension spring and/or torsion membermay be selected in accordance with factors such as the body size andshape of a user, as well as the forces likely to be applied for aparticular league or player position.

In another embodiment, elastic cords, e.g. bungee cords, may be used,alone or in combination with tension springs/tubular torsion members, tofurther control the head motion of the player. In each case, the goal isto define a construction of parameters that provide a balance betweenmitigating violent impact forces while still permitting a player thefreedom of motion to turn his/her head in a different direction, e.g. tocatch ball or see a tackler.

The safety helmet assembly may further comprise a shoulder padengagement assembly having a first portion engageable to the shoulderpad(s) and a second portion engageable to the head motion restraintassembly.

The head motion restraint assembly may further include a quickconnect/disconnect assembly engageable to the shoulder pad(s) assemblysecond portion, for easy connection/disconnection of the head motionrestraint assembly from the shoulder pad engagement assembly.

The shoulder pad engagement assembly second portion may be laterallyadjustable to laterally translate with respect to the shoulder padengagement assembly first portion. As such, the connection between thesafety helmet assembly and the shoulder pad(s) may be readily adjustedto accommodate different body sizes and different helmet sizes of users.

The head motion restraint assembly may utilize a plurality of torsionbar members, having a first portions engaged to the helmet assembly andsecond portions engageable to the shoulder pad engagement assemblysecond portion. In another embodiment, the head motion restraintassembly may include a plurality of tension springs, having a firstportion engageable to the helmet assembly and a second portionengageable to the shoulder pad engagement assembly second portion. Inanother embodiment, the head motion restraint assembly may comprise anelastic cord(s), having a first portion engageable to the helmetassembly and second portion engageable to the shoulder pads or a beltdisposed about a body portion of the user.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

These and other features and advantages of the various embodimentsdisclosed herein will be better understood with respect to the followingdescription and drawings, in which like numbers refer to like partsthroughout, and in which:

FIG. 1 illustrates one embodiment of a multilayer safety helmet assemblyin accordance with some aspects of the present invention;

FIG. 2 illustrates the helmet assembly inner portion having a pluralityof vibration dampeners extending therefrom;

FIG. 3 illustrates shoulder pads to which the safety helmet assembly maybe connected to restrain head motion;

FIG. 4 illustrates one embodiment of the head motion restraint assemblyconnected to a shoulder pad engagement assembly;

FIG. 5 illustrates another embodiment of the invention with the headmotion restraint assembly connected to the shoulder pad engagementassembly;

FIG. 6 illustrates a further embodiment of the invention wherein thehead motion restraint assembly extends through the helmet assembly outershell;

FIG. 7 illustrates one embodiment of the shoulder pad engagementassembly connected to one embodiment of the shoulder pad engagementassembly;

FIG. 8 illustrates another embodiment of the head motion restraintassembly connected to the shoulder pad engagement assembly; and

FIG. 9 illustrates an alternate embodiment of the shoulder padengagement assembly including a quick connect/disconnect assembly.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The above description is given by way of example, and not limitation.Given the above disclosure, one skilled in the art could devisevariations that are within the scope and spirit of the inventiondisclosed herein, including various ways of forming an outer shell/innershell of the helmet assembly, different constructions of the vibrationdampeners, different constructions of the shock absorber, and differentconstructions for securing the head motion restraint assembly to thehelmet assembly and/or shoulder pad engagement assembly. Further, thevarious features of the embodiments disclosed herein can be used alone,or in varying combinations with each other and are not intended to belimited to the specific combination described herein. Thus, the scope ofthe claims is not to be limited by the illustrated embodiments.

Referring to the drawings, FIG. 1 illustrates an exemplary embodiment ofa multilayer safety helmet assembly 10. The assembly includes a helmetassembly 20, a resilient face guard/shock absorber assembly 30 and ahead motion restraint assembly 40, shown more clearly at FIGS. 7 and 9.

The helmet assembly 20 includes a helmet outer shell 11, a helmet innershell 13 and an array of vibration dampeners 15 disposed intermediatethe outer shell 11 and the inner shell 13.

The outer shell 11 may be formed of Kevlar™/composite material, and mayinclude a resilient surface defining a plurality of resilient surfacemembers 25, arrayed upon the outer shell 11.

Resilient face guard/shock absorber assembly 30 may be formed to includeface guard 21 and shock absorber 23, which connects face guard 21 tohelmet inner shell 13. The face guard 21 may also be connected to helmetassembly 10 by means of one or more connectors 27.

The shock absorber 23 may be formed as a piston assembly which provideslower resistance to low impact forces on the face guard 30, therebyabsorbing such forces within the shock absorber. However, the shockabsorber 23 may exhibit higher resistance to higher impact forces uponthe face guard 30. This serves to protect the face of the player fromhigh impact forces on the face guard, while still dissipating asubstantial portion of those forces within the shock absorber.

In an alternative embodiment, the functions of shock absorber 23 may beimplemented by one or more layers of resilient material connecting theface guard 21 to the helmet assembly 10. The layers may be selected tohave different compressive characteristics. For example, a layerproximate the face guard 21 may be more compressible, allowing forabsorption of low impact forces, while a layer proximate the helmetassembly 10 may be denser and less compressible.

As will be recognized by those skilled in the art, the characteristicfeatures of shock absorber 23 or a multilayer material may be designedto implement a proportional integral differential circuit (PID) whichfunctions to mute responses to lower impact forces, while providing amore substantial resistant to higher impact forces, thereby stabilizingthe head of the user consistent with protection in relation to highimpact forces.

FIG. 2 further illustrates the helmet assembly inner shell 13 and thearray of vibration dampeners 15. As it will be apparent to those skilledin the art, the vibration dampeners 15 may be constructed to includeresilient tubular members 29 extending between the inner shell 13 andthe outer shell 11. The tubular members 29 may be formed of materialsselected to regulate the transmission of shock forces from the helmetassembly outer shell 11 to the helmet assembly inner shell 13. Thetubular members 29 may be deformable in response to applied impactedforces on the helmet assembly 10, to mitigate the transmission of shockforces from the helmet assembly outer shell 11 to the helmet assemblyinner shell 13.

It is anticipated that the array of vibrations dampeners 15 may includedampeners having different dampening characteristics in different areas,to provide stiffness in areas of greatness concern while allowing moreresiliency in other areas.

Helmet assembly inner shell 13 may also be provided with inner padding17 formed around the inner surface of the inner shell 13. Additionalpadding members 19 may also be provided on the padding 17 to provideregions with additional protection and comfort.

FIG. 3 illustrates an exemplary shoulder pads(s) 50 which may beconnected to helmet assembly 10, as described in more detail below.

FIG. 4 illustrates a shoulder pad engagement assembly 51, describedfurther below, which facilitates connection of the head motion restraintassembly to the shoulder pads. FIG. 4 illustrates one embodiment whereinthe head motion restraint assembly is implemented using tension springs31.

FIG. 5 illustrates another embodiment of the invention wherein the headmotion restraint assembly is implemented using tubular torsion members33.

FIG. 6 illustrates an embodiment wherein the tubular members 33 of thehead motion restraint assembly passes through the aperture 35 formed inthe helmet assembly outer shell 11 to abut against and/or be connectedto the inner shell 13.

FIG. 7 illustrates in more detail the implementation of head motionrestraint assembly 40 a, including tension springs 31. As shown, thereintension springs 31 include ends 35 which may be engageable to the helmetassembly and ends 37 engageable to apertures 41 of the slide bar 61,which is receivable with in channel 43 of slide bar receiving member 53.The slide bar receiving member 53 and base plate 55 are engageable byfasteners 59, 63 to secure the shoulder pad engagement assembly 51 toshoulder pad portion 57. As it will be apparent to those skilled in theart, slide bar 61 is translatable within the channel 43 such thatsprings 31 may translate laterally with respect to the helmet assemblyin order to accommodate use of the head motion restraint assembly inconjunction with players of different body shapes and sizes.

FIG. 8 illustrates the use of the shoulder pad engagement assembly 51 inconjunction a head motion restraint assembly utilizing torsion member33, in combination with springs 63.

FIG. 9 illustrates use of a quick connector assembly 70 to connect thehead motion restraint assembly 40 b to the shoulder pad engagementassembly 51. As shown therein, the quick connect/disconnect assembly 70includes male portions 71 and female portions 73 which may be easilyconnected and disconnected to facilitate disconnection of the headmotion restraint assembly and removable of the helmet assembly from thehead of the user.

What is claimed is:
 1. A multilayer safety helmet assembly comprising:a) a helmet assembly including a helmet outer shell, a helmet innershell and an array of vibration dampeners disposed intermediate theouter shell and the inner shell; b) a resilient face guard/shockabsorber assembly including a face guard and a shock absorber extendingbetween the face guard and the helmet assembly; and c) a head motionrestraint assembly including a first portion engaged to the helmetassembly and a second portion engageable to a shoulder pad(s) worn by auser.
 2. The safety helmet assembly as recited in claim 1 wherein theouter shell is formed of Kevlar/compo site material.
 3. The safetyhelmet assembly as recited in claim 1 wherein the helmet assembly outershell comprises resilient surface material formed on an outer surface ofthe outer shell.
 4. The safety helmet assembly as recited in claim 1wherein the vibration dampeners are formed of materials selected toregulate transmission of shock forces from the helmet assembly outershell to the helmet assembly inner shell.
 5. The safety helmet assemblyas recited in claim 4 wherein the vibration dampeners are resilientlydeformable to dissipate transmission of shock forces from the helmetassembly outer shell to the helmet assembly inner shell.
 6. The safetyhelmet assembly as recited in claim 1 wherein the shock absorber isadjustable to provide a selective dampening of impact forces upon theface guard and to mitigate the communication of the impact forces uponthe face guard to the helmet assembly.
 7. The safety helmet assembly asrecited in claim 6 wherein the face guard shock absorber assembly isadjustable to provide low resistance to minor impact forces upon theface guard.
 8. The safety helmet assembly as recited in claim 6 whereinthe face guard shock absorber assembly is adjustable to provide lowresistance to low impact forces on the face guard and higher resistanceto high impact forces upon the face guard.
 9. The safety helmet assemblyas recited in claim 8 wherein the shock absorber comprises atranslatable hydraulic piston.
 10. The safety helmet assembly as recitedin claim 8 wherein the shock absorber is engaged to the helmet assemblyinner shell.
 11. The safety helmet assembly as recited in claim 1further comprising a shoulder pad engagement assembly having a firstportion engageable to the shoulder pad(s) and a second portionengageable to the head motion restraint assembly.
 12. The safety helmetassembly as recited in claim 11 wherein the head motion restraintassembly includes a quick connect/disconnect assembly engageable toshoulder pad engagement assembly second portion, forconnecting/disconnecting the head motion restraint assembly from theshoulder pad engagement assembly second portion.
 13. The safety helmetassembly as recited in claim 12 wherein the shoulder pad engagementassembly second portion is adjustable to laterally translate withrespect to the shoulder pad engagement assembly first portion.
 14. Thesafety helmet assembly as recited in claim 13 wherein the head motionrestraint assembly comprises a tubular torsion member having a torsionmember first portion engaged to the helmet assembly and a torsion membersecond portion engageable to the shoulder pad engagement assembly secondportion.
 15. The safety helmet assembly as recited in claim 13 whereinthe head motion restraint assembly comprises a tension spring having atension spring first portion engaged to the helmet assembly and atension spring second portion engageable to the shoulder pad engagementassembly second portion.
 16. The safety helmet assembly as recited inclaim 1 wherein the head motion restraint assembly comprises an elasticcord.